In 1996, Hillary Clinton, then the first lady of the United States, promoted her book “It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us,” establishing the popular adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Now, fast-forward to 2010 and the grand opening of the new Acute Care Pavilion on the campus of San Diego-based Rady Children’s Hospital, a state-of-the-art pediatric village where one may visit and think, “It takes a village to treat a child.”

In 1954, when Rady Children’s Hospital first opened its doors, about a dozen patients were treated. Today, Rady Children’s Hospital is one of the largest children’s hospitals in the state of California, and the new Acute Care Pavilion adds 154 much-needed pediatric beds to the region. The new building houses three key healthcare divisions: The Peckham Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and the Warren Family Surgical Center.

During a recent shift, I decided to call “a code,” which brings in the rapid response team. My patient’s heart was racing and his breathing had become intensely labored. Also he’d just moaned: “I’m gonna die in this bed.”

The team arrived and drew some blood. The patient’s left lower lung was gone and his right was filled with fluid, but his condition wasn’t as dire as it seemed. The intensive care doctor quickly returned with the lab results and stood close to the patient. He spoke in a loud, clear voice, making sure he would be heard over the hissing of the wall oxygen and the small crowd of people in the room. “Good news,” he said. “Your lab work just came back and everything looks good. You’re not going to die.”

Such a bald statement; no one ever yells out “die” in a hospital. But I was watching my patient and saw him relax after hearing that he was not going to die in his bed. Literally, he breathed easier.